Sports Biographies Football

'Immaculate footballer. Imperial defender. Immortal hero of 1966. Master of Wembley. Captain extraordinary. Gentleman of all time.' These are some of the words inscribed beneath the statue of England's World Cup-winning captain, Bobby Moore, at Wembley stadium. Since Moore's death, of bowel cancer at just 51, these accolades represent the accepted view of this national treasure. But what do we actually know about Bobby Moore as a person? What about the grit alongside the glory?

Do not let the title Kelly Tough fool you. This is not a "be all you can be, no pain - no gain" story. Toughness is overrated. And being Kelly Tough, well, you are about to find out what that really means and why it just might matter to you. Kelly Tough is a story of love and hope: a love between a father and a daughter - former Buffalo Bills quarterback, Jim Kelly, and his oldest daughter Erin. Erin shares a deeply personal account of the love a family can have for each other during the darkest times.

Standing a stellar five feet, seven inches and weighing in at a magnificent 150 pounds, you wouldn't think Richie would be much of a football player. Instead he looks more like a chess player. Richie Contartesi is a small-town kid who dreamt his entire life of playing big-time college football in the SEC. He had the heart, passion, tenacity, and love for the game, but there was a nagging problem that haunted him from youth football through college: his size.

We live in a world that all too often operates under the overriding template of self-promotion, embracing a "hooray for me" attitude, and which measures success in increasingly small timeframes dotted with markers of temporal value. Millions of viewers know James Brown as a sports commentator and former athlete. With Role of a LifetimeJames reveals a different side of his character. Part memoir and part self-help, this book draws on James' lessons from his life experiences.

Am 13. Juli 2014 schrieb Mario Götze Fußballgeschichte. An diesem Tag schoss er die deutsche Nationalelf mit seinem 1:0 im WM-Finale gegen Argentinien zum Weltmeistertitel. Das Tor war der vorläufige Höhepunkt der noch jungen Karriere eines der talentiertesten Fußballer, den Deutschland je hatte. Wenn nur Pep Guardiola, sein Trainer bei den Bayern, die Fähigkeiten des Ex-Dortmunders endlich voll ausschöpfen würde.

On the heels of the cult television hit Friday Night Lights, The New York Times best-selling author of The Junction Boys pens the story of Texas high school football integration, and the three men who put together a championship team.

I had a hunch we'd be champions! The most unlikely story in the history of sport, told by our greatest football writer. On 25th March 2015, when King Richard III, recently rescued from a municipal car park, was reburied in Leicester Cathedral, his beloved football team had just lost 4-3 to Tottenham Hotspur and were bottom of the Premier League, relegation certainties. With King Richard finally at rest, everything changed for Leicester City.

In 2011, Mark Herzlich became a starting linebacker for a New York Giants team that would win the Super Bowl - just two years after he had been told that he would never play football again. Now Herzlich tells his triumphant story for the first time. Mark Herzlich fought a battle against cancer, against statistics, and some days against himself. Told with candor and raw emotion, this is a story for anyone who has ever fought to beat the odds, for anyone who has ever been told that what they are about to attempt is next to impossible.

Robbie Rogers knows better than most that keeping secrets can crush you. But for much of his life Robbie lived in paralyzing fear that sharing his big secret would cost him the love of his family and his career as a professional soccer player. So he never told anyone what was destroying his soul, both on and off the field.

Through one-on-one interviews, this evocative collection of life stories explores the bittersweet tales of some of the NFL's most famous men, including, Mike Ditka, Hollywood Henderson, Ron Jaworski, Ronnie Lott, Dan Reeves, Rocky Bleier, and Pat Summerall. Co-creator Cynthia Zordich, wife of former pro safety Michael Zordich, had the presence of mind to dive into a world yet traveled and ask questions of those who had already left the game.

To the select fraternity of men who have won the Heisman Trophy since its inception in 1935, the award is so much more than just a football trophy. The Heisman is a national symbol of collegiate football experience and competitiveness. Over time, it has become the single most celebrated individual award in all of American sports. Although the Heisman Trophy is old, it does not age. If anything, its impact gets stronger every year. No other individual award captures the country’s imagination like the Heisman does.

Football fans will love this insight into the life and mind of Big Sam. With nearly 20 years as a player - plus almost 25 years as a coach and manager - under his belt, Sam Allardyce is one of the most recognisable figures in British football. 'Big Sam' has been a robust defensive general throughout the seventies and eighties, and an imposing touchline presence as a gaffer since 1994. Over the last four decades, Allardyce has seen it all.

In 1976, Vince Papale was a down-on-his-luck substitute teacher, part-time bartender, and season ticket holder for the Philadelphia Eagles, the team he'd grown up rooting for. He had always loved football, but the closest he'd ever come to playing on Sundays was in local rough touch leagues. Until fate stepped in. Vince was 30 years old and wondering what he would do with his life, when he heard that Coach Dick Vermeil was holding open tryouts for the Eagles.

Here are the Paterno principles: the straight word from the curious quarterback and English major who went from Brooklyn to Brown to Penn State, who lost his way to law school and became instead America’s best-loved coach. With the help of a first-rate biographer and friend, Bernard Asbell, Joe Paterno tells his story, sharing his life’s principles and touching on a number of important subjects, including family, heroes, management, leadership, loyalty, teamwork, discipline, motivation, and football strategy.

At last, the most talked about footballer of his generation does his own talking. It's heartfelt, it's raw, it's one hell of a story. Every football fan has an opinion on Rio Ferdinand. He is one of the most gifted footballers the UK has ever produced, twice breaking the British transfer record, but he courts controversy in equal measure. Most famously, he was dropped by England for missing a drugs test, and his subsequent eight-month ban made front-page news.

In this inspirational memoir, Derrick Coleman, Jr., the Seattle Seahawks fullback who won the 2014 Super Bowl with the Seahawks in his second year in the NFL, relates his inspirational story of hard work and determination in his own words. Showcasing his unlikely and challenging journey to become the first deaf athlete to play offense in the NFL, he talks about overcoming internal and external obstacles in the course of reaching your true potential.

He was a lovable rogue--a gambler, a billiards champion, a cardshark, a dance contest winner, a college student, and perhaps the finest all-around athlete the world has ever known. He was a maverick, a loner, his own man, almost reclusive, yet he was loved and admired by millions while he was alive and mourned nationwide after he died at the young age of 25.

When Eli Manning found teammate Plaxico Burress in the end zone with just 35 seconds remaining in Super Bowl XLII, he completed what was perhaps the greatest game-winning drive and unlikely upset in Super Bowl history. But the drive, which also included a remarkable escape and pass completion to unheralded receiver David Tyree, was the culmination of years of promise and development.

At 5-foot-8, 175 pounds, Daniel Rodriguez was an unlikely recruit for the gridiron. But on the battlefield, under the daily rain of sniper fire, he made a promise to his best friend. "When I get out of this shit hole, I'm going to play college football." Daniel had joined the Army just weeks after graduating from high school, having recently suffered a devastating loss. At age nineteen he had no idea what war really was; he just wanted to get out of town.

Following a stellar 12-year career as a linebacker, including a Super Bowl win with Baltimore in 2000, O. J. "Juice" Brigance joined the Ravens' front office. But in 2007, Brigance was diagnosed with amyotrophic lateral sclerosis - also known as Lou Gehrig's disease - and told he had only three to five years to live. As a player, he'd battled hundreds of injuries and setbacks. None of them prepared him to face ALS.